Posts: 10

Topic: Mixcraft

Has anyone ever used Mixcraft recording software?

My brother, on the other side of the country, wants me to buy it. It's an 8 track that's what he uses. It's $60 to download it or $100 for the physical disc. He wants me to lay down rhythm guitar and mandolin tracks then send them to him so he can add piano and lead guitar tracks.

Anyone have any experience with it? It's version 6 if that matters.

__________________________________[b]Today Is Only Yesterdays Tomorrow[/b]

Re: Mixcraft

Well Howdy, First off is this something you are planning to do a lot of? Also have you experience with other DAW software applications?The reason I'm asking is that if it is only an occasional thing and we are talking about recording and sending a few tracks for mixing elsewhere, I'm wondering why you would want to invest $$ in a program when there are other options that are free?

From what I read about Mixcraft, it can import a wide range of audio formats to be incorporated into a project within it's application, so something like Reaper or even Audacity would suffice for most uses without the learning curve and investment.

Re: Mixcraft

unclejoesband wrote:

Has anyone ever used Mixcraft recording software?

My brother, on the other side of the country, wants me to buy it. It's an 8 track that's what he uses. It's $60 to download it or $100 for the physical disc. He wants me to lay down rhythm guitar and mandolin tracks then send them to him so he can add piano and lead guitar tracks.

Anyone have any experience with it? It's version 6 if that matters.

I am going too follow this post as I would like too get a system too help me also.

Re: Mixcraft

I have to agree Reaper is an excellent DAW it has a lot of advantages once you get over the learning curve, Audacity is a lot easier to understand and if all you want to do is render to mp3 or wav format to burn a CD or DVD for your videos I would go with Audacity its free

Re: Mixcraft

Russell_Harding wrote:

I have to agree Reaper is an excellent DAW it has a lot of advantages once you get over the learning curve, Audacity is a lot easier to understand and if all you want to do is render to mp3 or wav format to burn a CD or DVD for your videos I would go with Audacity its free

I certainly like the idea of free but would the 2 systems be compatible? Like I said, he has already gone through the learning curve of Mixcraft. He's been using it for a couple years so I want to be sure whatever I use will work when I send him files. For all I know, all the different systems may work together but I don't know that to be a fact.

__________________________________[b]Today Is Only Yesterdays Tomorrow[/b]

Re: Mixcraft

unclejoesband wrote:

Russell_Harding wrote:

I have to agree Reaper is an excellent DAW it has a lot of advantages once you get over the learning curve, Audacity is a lot easier to understand and if all you want to do is render to mp3 or wav format to burn a CD or DVD for your videos I would go with Audacity its free

I certainly like the idea of free but would the 2 systems be compatible? Like I said, he has already gone through the learning curve of Mixcraft. He's been using it for a couple years so I want to be sure whatever I use will work when I send him files. For all I know, all the different systems may work together but I don't know that to be a fact.

It really doesn't matter what type of software program he is running as long as the files your sending are mp3 or wav these are standard files recognized by any software program the mp3 is smaller then the wav file and more popular for downloads wav formats are better for burning a cd but mp3 files are ok.

Re: Mixcraft

If Mixcraft can import a WAV, you can use whatever recording software makes you feel comfortable, because dang near every one will output a WAV. Audacity and Reaper both use it as their native format. Record what you want, send him the WAV, and tell him you did it in Mixcraft.

Re: Mixcraft

I received Mixcraft as a gift over the holidays. I've used Audacity. I imagine every software has a learning curve. You can do MOST of the same things in Audacity that you can do in Mixcraft, it's just not "as pretty" and in some ways not as easy, but in others even easier. Frankly, I haven't played with it enough yet to feel comfy with everything it can do, but it sounds like it's a whole lot more than you need!

If he's doing all the mixing, you certainly don't need Mixcraft on your end or any program for that matter. All you need is a way to record your stuff and send it to him. Unless you plan on doing a lot of mixing of your own stuff down the road, spend your money on a nice recording device instead because they come in handy for lots of uses! I have a Zoom recorder. It records wav files, can normalize files, and convert to mp3. If you don't need to do any mixing yourself, then that's all you need!

On another note... if you don't have something like a Zoom recorder, how do you plan to record yourself? Using a standard Computer Mic with Mixcraft is likely not going to do the trick. As an example, I've tried using my Zoom as a USB mic and go directly though Mixcraft to record on the computer, and I have issues (my computer sucks). So, I generally record on my Zoom and then transfer the files to the computer to play around in the software. Really, that's all your brother wants. Send him recordings so he can mix. You don't need any program for that, just a decent device to record with. You can certainly try Audacity and whatever devices you have laying around that you can record on plugged into the computer. You'll get the same quality as you would have if you'd done it through Mixcraft for the price of free. I still swear by my Zoom though. It's what I used to record the Virginia Chordie gathering out in the woods running on batteries.

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.

Re: Mixcraft

Thanks Amy. I actually received the software as a Christmas gift. I just started playing around with it a couple weeks ago.

I don't even know what a Zoom recorder is. I have a mic and a sound hole pick-up for the guitar. I plug one at a time into the mic jack on the computer so at this point I do have to mix here. I bought an interface but I've been having a lot of trouble getting it to work right. It's supposed to be plug-n-play. From a few folks I've talked to, that unlike me, know about such things, the unit itself is defective. I need to write to Berhinger and relate the problem to them.

Do you have the Virginia gathering posted somewhere?

__________________________________[b]Today Is Only Yesterdays Tomorrow[/b]

I didn't do anything special except for turn the recorder on... and normalize the audio then cut and pasted a few different clips together. I have the Zoom H2, found here: http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/h2 It's a few years old, they have even fancier ones now of course. Tascam makes some nice ones too. If you look in this recording section, you'll find some other recommendations as well.

How are you liking Mixcraft so far? I keep dabbling with it, but haven't resigned to actually read through the manual while dabbling so I will be a bit longer before I actually mix anything worth listening to. LOL!

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.